So I “invested” in the soot eater. I have a quadrafire pioneer 2 and a kumma vapor fire 100 in my new house(2/2020), so I needed something to last for years to come. And not sure how must creosote I have accumulated in 1.5 burning seasons, it was time I thought for a scrub. After pricing two brush ends and 33’ of sticks, the soot eater was the same price as a manual brush. The pioneer two had a cup or two of creosote in 18’ of chimney. The vapor fire had an unmeasurable amount because of a dead space in the clay flue below the clean out. I did the top down method. Both of my chimney tops are easy access. And I could keep the doors closed while sweeping. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Also during the cooler weather that is now upon us! I thought of the same thing as soon as I saw the open door......then I saw the child. Homemade make sure to post a pic or three of that deck once you get it built!
Not going up on the roof anymore at my age. One slip and done for! I am curious about the soot eater though. Will it make a 90 degree bend? Seems like bending the rods that much would push the plastic whips to one side. Thoughts?
I've cleaned my liner both ways with the sooteater and both have pro's and con's. I first did it from bottom up, used the plastic and taped to my stove. I think the residue left a mark on my stove in certain spots, very noticeable and disappointed but I got over it. Getting on my roof the way I do (because I don't do ladders and heights very well) isn't the easiest so that's always a burden and being two stories up isn't my favorite while attaching increments to the sooteater. But it's a much cleaner process going top down for me anyways!
The deck will come hopefully next summer. And it was 60 degrees. Unseasonably warm for WI this time of year. As you can see, I’m in a t shirt. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It will do 90 degrees. But I wouldn’t try an go up a clean out hole in clay chimney . That would be too tight. The rods are stiffer then the manual type brushes Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Plastic deck boards were the same price as pine. I was gonna do that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Homemade Sounds like you are burning dry wood in two top of the line heaters! I have a fireplace upstairs for ambiance and a VF 100 in the basement for the real heating duty. I often wish I would of gone with a unit like yours upstairs for when we have power outages. Do you find yourself using one unit more than the other?
I can’t use the vf100 unless it’s below 32 at night . It will cook us out with the smallest amount of wood. I like using the fireplace just to take the chill out on mild days. The only problem with using the fireplace as a regular heater, it doesn’t carry the heat to the bedrooms. And with a 4 year old and a 6 month old, I can’t have the bedrooms at 60 degrees. So I get the house to 70ish and the wife snd I sleep with the window cracked. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sheboygan county. I finally got the cast iron radiator in my garage. Shortly after we talked last, I had a friend delivering fuel at the race track in the dells and he would have grabbed it for me. He won’t get that way again till spring. Trust me, I haven’t forgot the offer. And would like to try that before I get a heat exchanger. Then again I can find some used exchangers online. I just don’t want to stick a bunch of money into a something with mediocre results. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sounds like you have a very well insulated house for it to burn you out in your climate. I haven’t fired the VF up yet this season. I like for the high temps to be in the 40’s before we start burning for the season.
We don't get as cold as some people seem to think. LOL In fact when I retire and if I move, I would want to move north to the upper UP where winter is actually winter and where people don't complain about getting a measly 6" of snow.